Repeated failures compound Netanyahu’s Al-Aqsa predicament

John Wight has written for newspapers and websites across the world, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal. He is also a regular commentator on RT and BBC Radio. John is currently working on a book exploring the role of the West in the Arab Spring.
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masked Palestinian protester uses a sling shot to throw stones at Israeli troops during clashes, following an anti-Israel demonstration over the entry restrictions to the al-Aqsa mosque, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah October 31, 2014. (Reuters/Abed Omar Qusini) / Reuters

The recent closure of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by the Israeli government constitutes yet more evidence that peace between Israel and the Palestinians has never been more distant.

The Al-Aqsa mosque, located in Jerusalem’s Old City, is the third
holiest site in Islam. It sits within an enclosed compound known
as the Noble Sanctuary, which also includes the Dome of the Rock,
an Islamic shrine built on the site of the sacred stone which is
believed to mark the place from where the Prophet Muhammad
ascended to heaven. The Dome of the Rock is also believed by
Jewish scholars to be the location of the first and second
temples, both of which were destroyed – the first by the
Babylonians in 586 BCE, the second by the Romans in 70 CE. Within
Judaism the entire area, including Al-Aqsa, is known as Temple
Mount and is equally as sacred.

The veneration of this holy site by both Jews and Muslims, rather
than a source of understanding and mutual respect, is a lightning
rod for the deep enmity that exists between both in the context
of Israel’s control over the Old City in the aftermath of the Six
Day War in 1967. Further compounding the tensions within
Jerusalem are Israel’s ongoing illegal settlement expansion in
East Jerusalem, encroaching on Palestinian areas and making the
prospect of East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian
state increasingly impossible.

The current crisis was triggered by the assertion of right wing
Jewish activists that Jews be allowed to pray at Temple Mount.
Since Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in 1967, Jews have been
allowed to visit the site without praying. The sensitivities and
tensions surrounding the site as a consequence have long been
present, never more so than when former Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon visited the site in 2000 accompanied by hundreds of
Israeli riot police. The resulting disturbance was the trigger
for the Second Intifada, which lasted five years and during which
thousands died, the majority of them Palestinians.

The prospect of another all-out conflict erupting over Al-Aqsa is
all too real, which is why current Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has been thrust into one of the most dangerous
crises of his long and controversial premiership.

Right wing Jewish activists and religious extremists have gained
traction within Israel in recent years, putting more and more
pressure on the country’s political leaders to brook no dissent
or compromise when it comes to the rights of the Palestinians. To
them the Palestinians are an alien presence on historic Jewish
land and should be treated as such, regardless of international
law and human rights.

Yehuda Glick is one such activist. Born in the United States,
Glick moved to Israel as a child, where for the past few years he
has led a movement to allow Jews to pray at Temple Mount. On 29
October, after speaking at a political event in Jerusalem, Glick
was approached by a man on a motorcycle and shot. The alleged
assassin, Mutaz Hijazi, was chased by the Israeli police, who
shot him dead. The police claim they only used lethal force when
their attempt to arrest Hijazi was met with gunfire, a claim the
victim’s family denies.

The furore over Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount would on the surface appear
to revolve around the denial of the same right of Jews to pray at
Temple Mount as Muslims to pray at Al-Aqsa. But such a
superficial rendering of the issue ignores the wider context of
Israel’s decades-long illegal occupation of Palestinian land and
denial of their right to self-determination. The humiliation and
loss of dignity that has been a feature of Palestinian life as a
consequence, not forgetting the material consequences of their
colonization, leaves them little to hold on to by way of comfort.
At such times religion and religious identity acts as a comfort
blanket, a sanctuary and escape from the brutal reality of life
under occupation. The exclusive right of Palestinian Muslims to
pray at Al-Aqsa takes on a deeper spiritual and political meaning
when considered in this light.

Benjamin Netanyahu has proved himself a leader who never misses
an opportunity to miss an opportunity. During his current and
second stint as Prime Minister of Israel, beginning in 2009, he
has presided over the worst relations between an Israeli and US
government since the 1950s. The recent revelation that a leading
member of the Obama administration called him “a chickenshit”
over his refusal to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements and
his obdurate refusal to push forward the peace process, may do
his reputation and popularity little harm at home, especially
with the lack of sympathy for the Palestinians that currently
exists within Israel. But it risks alienating support for Israel
within the US – support that has been key in maintaining US
economic support for the Jewish state to the tune of $9 billion
per year.

The Israeli Prime Minister has managed to place himself in the
invidious position of not being intransigent enough for the right
within his own country or flexible enough for an international
community which has seen support for the Palestinian people
around the world grow exponentially over the past few years,
placing pressure on Western governments to adopt a more
evenhanded approach when it comes to this ongoing conflict. As
such the exceptionalism that has long been enjoyed by Israel is
no longer sustainable in the long term. As such, unless it elects
a leader with the requisite moral courage and political nous to
change direction the Jewish state will find itself an
international pariah.

Benjamin Netanyahu is not such a leader. On the contrary, if
success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of
enthusiasm, Netanyahu is guaranteed a place in history as one of
the most successful politicians the world has seen.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.